A 1962 Chevrolet Corvette seems out of place against the high-tech backdrops of ABC’s coming ”Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” series. The old car looks like little more than part of a mid-life crisis for agent Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg.

“Don’t touch Lola,” he says to a crewman after parking the vintage ‘Vette in the cargo bay of the organization’s transport plane. He tries to explain to younger agents that the car is more than simply a collector’s item and that it is an important part of the team’s equipment.

But his argument seems unconvincing, leaving fellow agents wondering what is so special about this old car.

In the Marvel Entertainment show’s premiere, Gregg reprises his role as Coulson from “Thor,” “The Avengers” and “Iron Man.” He puts together a team to investigate what ABC calls “the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.”

In the first show they pursue a man who gets super-hero powers through a flawed experiment and becomes a threat to society. Lola stays behind the scenes during the episode’s combat and pyrotechnics, so her nicely restored body and red paint don’t get scarred.

[SPOILER ALERT] In the closing scene Coulson appears ready to drive off into the sunset, but instead of reaching for the ignition key he flips a switch and the car makes jet sounds, rises off the ground vertically and flies away.

Instead of relying on airplane-like wings that unfold, Lola has wheels that rotate downward as if they are providing thrust to hoist the car. So it is a departure from the real-world Transition flying car under development at the Woburn, Mass., company Terrafugia Inc.

While a flying car is a neat device for an action-adventure show, Lola’s aerial special effects left a bit to be desired. They brought back 1970s memories of Luke Skywalker’s “Star Wars” speeder and the cult TV shows “UFO” and even “Land of the Lost.”

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